AbeBooks' Reading Copy

The Guardian celebrates the 75th anniversary of the writing of George Orwell’s The Road to Wigan Pier. Growing up in Britain in the 1970s (which included cheerful events like the so-called Winter of Discontent, that book was continually being referenced even though it was written decades earlier. I always found the Wigan Pier reference completely [...]

There is a tremendous article in the Milwaukee Wisconsin Journal Sentinel about dogs in literature. AbeBooks even gets a mention. It covers off companion dogs, talking dogs, bad dogs and future dogs. In Mikhail Bulgakov’s 1925 Soviet satire, Heart of a Dog, a crazed professor implants a human pituitary gland and testicles into a stray [...]

In 1631, a reprint of the King James Bible contained a very important typographical error. Read about the Wicked Bible, how few are left, and what made it wicked enough to enrage a king.

If you love books (and if you don’t, what are you doing here?), now’s a great opportunity to pick up some great gems while still saving substantial money. Until February 28th, eight AbeBooks booksellers have put their inventory on sale. The savings range from 10% off to an exciting 50% off, and genres on offer [...]

A 60-year-old woman named Ablene Cooper is suing Kathryn Stockett for an unauthorized appropriation of her name and image. It seems Ms. Cooper has it in her head that that the African-American maid from Stockett’s novel (named “Aibileen Clark.”) The Help strikes a little too close to home to her own likeness. Ablene Cooper worked [...]

The Bookseller Magazine has announced the shortlist for the 2010 Diagram Prize for the oddest book title. My money is on Managing a Dental Practice the Genghis Khan Way by Michael R Young. I have long been an admirer of the man management skills of Genghis Khan, leader of the Mongol hordes – if someone [...]

Big news here in the westerly outpost of Victoria, British Columbia, where AbeBooks is headquartered – there’s going to be a movie filmed about the life of J.K. Rowling and it’s going to made here….apparently the filmmakers think Victoria (founded 1841) looks like Edinburgh (officially documented since the 12th century and pictured above) where JK [...]

There was some real literary romance on Valentine’s Day – the ashes of author Raymond Chandler’s wife were buried over his casket in a ceremony in San Diego, reports the BBC. Apparently, the writer always wanted to be buried with his wife, Cissy, but never wrote down his wish.

AbeBooks offers thousands of rare elephant folio books. These huge books are up to 23 inches tall and certainly live up to their name. Sturdy bookshelves are essential. Art, photography, collections of posters, atlases and limited editions of classic literature can all be found in this heavyweight format. Take a look through some of the [...]

The Voynich Manuscript is another candidate for strangest book on AbeBooks.com. The majority of the book contains images of biological specimens, astrological diagrams, and strangely enough nude woman bathing in a complex system of pool and pipes. While it may not be quite as weird as the Codex Seraphinianus, it is definitely a very strange [...]